Page 18 - Flathead Beacon // 1.6.16

COVER
Chuck Plummer. COURTESY PHOTO
LEGACY
IN
LOWER VALLEY
AFTER FOUR DECADES, LOWER VALLEY PROCESSING CONTINUES TO GROW ITS BUSINESS, ONE GENERATION AND A HANDSHAKE DEAL AT A TIME
Lower Valley Processing Co. sits in a sea of farmland south of Kalispell, nestled in an island of trees, its 40 acres bordered on the south by Lower Valley Road and to the north by the calm, easy waters of Church Slough, fed by the Flathead River.
At the entrance, a massive pig statue named Betty Lou greets visitors with happy eyes. To the east, low clouds obstruct the view on a cold winter day, but the wall of mountains hemming in the valley loom large.
It’s idyllic, this farmland – a piece of a time capsule from simpler times, back when Chuck and Sylvia Plummer were raising their family. If you can make him stand still long enough in between muck- ing out the livestock stalls or whatever other chore he may be doing, Chuck, now 89, will tell you about how high the waters rose during the historic 1964 ood, about
how the kids – now middle-aged adults – sat in a boat oating near the mailbox.
“They were beautiful kids,” Chuck said, remembering.
Lower Valley Processing Co. is one of the premier meat processing plants in Northwest Montana, with more than 40 years of history and know-how going into their products. But the more some things change, like technological e ciencies that make the back-breaking work just a bit easier, the more they stay the same.
There are now four generations of Plum- mers working at the plant, which has seen some expansion, pushing into the apple orchard and the barn. When Chuck and Sylvia rst launched the business in 1974, they ran it out of their three-car garage.
Now there’s a slaughterhouse and a full sausage kitchen, along with daily visits from Department of Livestock inspectors. But co ee is always brewing
BY MOLLY PRIDDY OF THE BEACON
18
JANUARY 6, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Jason Mahlen, co-owner of Lower Valley Processing, moves sausage.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON